Terror Squad Productions (later Terror Squad Entertainment) is an American

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

and rap record company founded by

Fat Joe Joseph Antonio Cartagena (born August 19, 1970), better known by his stage name Fat Joe, is an American rapper. He began recording as a member of Hip-hop, hip hop group D.I.T.C., Diggin' in the Crates Crew (D.I.T.C.) in 1992, and pursued a sol ...

in 1997. The label has been distributed by

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a British record label owned by Universal Music Group. They were originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman (musician), ...

, and

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

. The label's flagship artist was

Big Pun Christopher Lee Rios (November 10, 1971 – February 7, 2000), better known by his stage name Big Pun (short for Big Punisher), was an American rapper. Emerging from the underground hip hop scene in the Bronx, he came to prominence upon discover ...

History

1997—1999: Early years, Big Pun, Terror Squad

After being disappointed with the previous album sales at

Relativity Records Relativity Records was an American record label founded by Barry Kobrin at the site of his vinyl record shop, Important Record Distributors (IRD) in metropolitan New York City. The IRD distribution name was later known as RED Distribution and ag ...

, Fat Joe left Relativity and signed to

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

. After signing to Atlantic, Fat Joe was granted his own record label, Terror Squad Productions. Atlantic would allow Fat Joe to sign artists to Terror Squad. Under the terms of the deal, Fat Joe was responsible for putting their albums together and they would fund, promote and distribute the releases from the label. The A&R and director for the label was Felix "Full Flex" Cabrera, Fat Joe's longtime friend. Cabrera died in 2015. In addition to himself, Fat Joe also signed his collective, Terror Squad and its members Armageddon, Prospect, Triple Seis,

Cuban Link Felix Delgado (born December 18, 1974), better known by his stage name Cuban Link, is a Cuban-American rapper. Emerging from the underground hip hop scene in the Bronx, he came to prominence upon discovery by fellow Bronx rapper Fat Joe and m ...

, and

. The label's first release was Big Pun's debut album ''

Capital Punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence (law), sentence ordering that an offender b ...

'' which was released on April 28, 1998. It was executive produced by both Fat Joe and Big Pun and featured guest appearances from Prospect, Armageddon, Triple Seis, Cuban Link and Fat Joe. The album peaked at number 5 on the ''Billboard 200'' and was certified platinum by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

. The label's second release was Fat Joe's '' Don Cartagena'', which was released September 1, 1998. The album was executive produced by Fat Joe and featured guest appearances from Big Pun and Terror Squad. It peaked at number 7 on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart and was certified gold by the RIAA. Terror Squad released their debut album '' The Album'' on September 21, 1999. Terror Squad artist Armageddon contributed production to the album. The album sold 250,000 units to date. Although not commercially successful, it was critically successful and was meant to be the foundation for other members to release their own albums.

2000—2005: Big Pun's death and Terror Squad regroup

On February 7, 2000, Big Pun died of a heart attack, and his album '' Yeeeah Baby'' was released posthumously that year on April 4. The album debuted and peaked at number 3 on the Billboard Top 200. The album featured guest appearances from Prospect, Cuban Link, Fat Joe and Tony Sunshine. Remy Ma (then known as Remy Martin), who was Big Pun's protege, made her debut appearance on the album. In October 2017, the album was certified Platinum in America. Shortly after Big Pun's death, Triple Seis left Terror Squad Productions and parted ways with the Terror Squad group. Cuban Link would follow suit shortly thereafter after his long-awaited debut studio album that was scheduled for a summer 2000 release, ''24K'', was shelved due to bootlegging, problems with Atlantic Records, and issues with Fat Joe. On December 4, 2001, Fat Joe released his fourth studio album ''

Jealous Ones Still Envy (J.O.S.E.) ''Jealous Ones Still Envy (J.O.S.E.)'' is the fourth solo studio album by American rapper Fat Joe. Originally scheduled for a summer 2000 release, the album was released on December 4, 2001, via Atlantic Records and Fat Joe's Terror Squad Prod ...

'' through Terror Squad Productions. It featured the hit singles "

We Thuggin' "We Thuggin'" is a single by American rapper Fat Joe featuring American singer R. Kelly. It is a single from Fat Joe's 2001 album ''Jealous Ones Still Envy (J.O.S.E.)''. The official remix was also included in the album and features R. Kelly, Bus ...

" and "

What's Luv "What's Luv?" is a song by American rapper Fat Joe, released through Atlantic Records and Fat Joe's Terror Squad Entertainment, Terror Squad Productions as the second single from his fourth studio album, ''Jealous Ones Still Envy (J.O.S.E.)'' (20 ...

", and featured guest appearances from Armageddon (who co-executive produced the album along with Fat Joe), Prospect, and Remy Ma. The following year in 2002, Fat Joe released ''

Loyalty Loyalty is a Fixation (psychology), devotion to a country, philosophy, group, or person. Philosophers disagree on what can be an object of loyalty, as some argue that loyalty is strictly interpersonal and only another human being can be the obj ...

''. The album was a commercial disappointment, only peaking at number 31 on the Billboard 200 and failing to achieve a RIAA certification. In 2004, Terror Squad released its second and final studio album '' True Story'' through Steve Rifkind's SRC Records,

Universal Records Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, ...

and Terror Squad Entertainment. The album peaked at number 7 on the Billboard 200. Though Prospect, Tony Sunshine, and Armageddon had made guest appearances on Fat Joe's albums and Terror Squad albums, they never released solo debut studio albums, and they all left by 2006. In 2005, Fat Joe released '' All or Nothing''. The album did better than his previous album but was still a commercial failure, and it was Fat Joe's final album on Atlantic Records

Later years & Signing of DJ Khaled (2005-present)

In September 2006, Fat Joe finalized a distribution deal for Terror Squad through

Imperial Records Imperial Records is an American record company and label started in 1947 by Lew Chudd. The label was reactivated in 2006 by EMI, which owned the label and back catalogue at the time. Imperial is owned by Universal Music Group. Early years to ...

and

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

. In 2006, Fat Joe released '' Make It Rain''. A top 15 single on the ''

Billboard Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), ...

'', ''Make It Rain'' was certified Platinum by the RIAA. The label also released the debut album from DJ Khaled & PRO's Super Produced '' Listennn... the Album'' that year on Koch. The label followed the success of these two albums into 2007, which led to the 2nd album from DJ Khaled ''

We The Best ''We the Best'' is the second studio album by American disc jockey and record producer DJ Khaled. It was released on June 12, 2007, by Terror Squad Entertainment and Koch Records. Khaled, alongside fellow American rapper Fat Joe, handled as ...

'' which featured the hit single " We Takin' Over", which had guest appearances from

Akon Aliaune Damala Bouga Time Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Badara Akon Thiam (born April 16, 1973), known mononymously as Akon (), is a Senegalese-United States, American singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer, businessman, and philanthropist. An influ ...

T.I. Clifford Joseph Harris Jr. (born September 25, 1980), known professionally as T.I. or Tip, is an American rapper and singer raised in Atlanta, Georgia. Harris is credited as a pioneer of the hip hop subgenre trap music, along with fellow Georgi ...

Rick Ross William Leonard Roberts II (born January 28, 1976), known professionally as Rick Ross, is an American rapper. An influential figure in modern Hip-hop, hip hop music, Rick Ross has become known for his "Wiktionary:booming, booming" vocal perfor ...

Baby In common terminology, a baby is the very young offspring of adult human beings, while infant (from the Latin word ''infans'', meaning 'baby' or 'child') is a formal or specialised synonym. The terms may also be used to refer to Juvenile (orga ...

, and

Lil Wayne Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (born September27, 1982), known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper. He is often regarded as one of the most influential hip hop artists of his generation, as well as one of the greatest rappers of all ...

Discography

* 1998:

- Don Cartagena * 1999: Terror Squad - The Album * 2000:

- Yeeeah Baby * 2001:

- Jealous Ones Still Envy * 2002:

* 2004: Terror Squad - True Story * 2005:

- All or Nothing * 2006: Remy Ma - There's Something About Remy: Based on a True Story * 2006:

DJ Khaled Khaled Mohammed Khaled (; born November 26, 1975), known professionally as DJ Khaled, is an American DJ and record producer. Originally a Miami-based radio personality, Khaled has since become known for enlisting high-profile music industry ar ...

- Listennn... the Album * 2006:

- Me, Myself & I * 2007:

We the Best ''We the Best'' is the second studio album by American disc jockey and record producer DJ Khaled. It was released on June 12, 2007, by Terror Squad Entertainment and Koch Records. Khaled, alongside fellow American rapper Fat Joe, handled as ...

* 2008:

- The Elephant in the Room * 2008:

We Global ''We Global'' is the third studio album by American disc jockey and record producer DJ Khaled. It was released on September 16, 2008, by We the Best Music Group, Terror Squad Entertainment and Koch Records. The album contains guest appearances ...

* 2009:

- Jealous Ones Still Envy 2 * 2010:

- The Darkside Vol. 1 * 2011:

- The Darkside Vol. 2 * 2013:

- The Darkside III

Roster

Artists *

(Deceased) *

* Prospect * Armageddon * Triple Seis * Remy Ma * TA *

Executives * Fat Joe (Founder, CEO) * Felix Cabrera (A&R, director)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Terror Squad (Record Label) American record labels 1997 establishments in New York City Record labels established in 1997 EMI Companies based in the Bronx